Texas Craft Brewers Festival showcases the best of the Lone Star state

The 2012 Texas Craft Brewers Festival brought together brewers from all over the state to showcase what Texas has to offer to the beer world. There were well over 100 beers to try from 27 breweries, as well as sessions pairing beer with cheeses and chocolates, and a discussion about the continued evolution of the state’s industry. It was held at Fiesta Gardens on the shores of Lady Bird Lake in Austin, and very much had an Austin-centric feel thanks to the fact that over a third of the breweries there call Washington-on-the-Brazos home. San Antonio was represented by Alamo and Ranger Creek, a modest representation by comparison, but one that’s sure to grow in the coming years.

The state of the Texas craft brewing industry

The Texas microbrew world is still rapidly evolving, and the panel discussion entitled Beer & Change: Texas Craft Beer Explosion showed both the fantastic progress that microbreweries are making in Texas and how much work remains to be done. All of the panelists, the head brewers from 5 breweries around the state plus Christine Celis, the daughter of legendary Belgian turned Austin brewer Pierre Celis, indicated plans to continue to ramp up production or expand their operations. In Celis’ case, this means establishing a planned 30 barrel brewhouse to bring back her father’s recipes. Several breweries noted that they have a long waiting list for accounts that they can supply, so don’t plan to increase their distribution area. Those kinds of problems are ones that most industries wish they had.

There are some obstacles that remain for growth in the craft beer industry. The heavyweights- Bud, Miller, and Coors continue to hold the largest part of the market. Craft beer’s share is slowly increasing, but there are a lot of people who don’t even understand the most basic things about any beers other than light American lagers. For instance, Celis noted that for some people, not knowing ahead of time that a Belgian wit is supposed to be cloudy might be a turn-off. For the average craft beer lover, that’s obvious, but not for a person who’s only used to straw colored clear fizzy beverages.

Several brewers noted that the success and rapid growth in the craft beer segment of the industry has caused it own batch of problems. One is that it’s difficult to maintain the level of staff cohesiveness and knowledge of the processes when hiring a lot of people. It is not a field where anyone can just step in and start working. Group cohesiveness is an integral part of how things get done. Wim Bens, head brewer at Dallas-area Lakewood brewing brought up another interesting point in that the craft beer revolution is forcing changes in bars and restaurants. Many microbreweries start off with draft-only distribution because it’s simpler and requires fewer resources. As more breweries come online and consumers ask for better beer selections, bars are having to retool their setups to accommodate more taps, often using smaller quarter barrel kegs instead of the formerly standard half barrel ones. He sees a coming problem where craft breweries may start competing with each other for tap space unless, as another noted, they can chip into the number tied up by the industry giants.

On to the tasty part- the beers themselves. There was a huge variety available, but I tended to choose those that aren’t available here in SA since I had the chance. There were a few great beers, a whole bunch of good beers, and a few that really weren’t any better than what I’d expect from a novice homebrewer. (Things like that do tend to happen when industries are growing quickly, but those breweries will either get it right or end up being providers of used equipment to someone else’s startup. That sounds harsh, but that’s the way it is.)

The best of the beers

Here were some of my favorite specialty beers that you might want to check out if you’re traveling around the state:

Revolver Blood and Honey- Revolver Brewing (Granbury, TX near Dallas-Ft. Worth) has only been around for a couple of months, but already has some great offerings courtesy of their head brewer Grant Wood, who got his start in SA at Pearl and later spent time at Samuel Adams. This is a 7% wheat-heavy ale with traces of honey and blood orange- just enough to make it interesting, but not enough to dominate.

Revolver Mother’s Little Fracker Stout- A robust stout coming in at just shy of the imperial line at 7.8% ABV, this beer has a bit of sourness which goes well with the residual sweetness.

Hops & Grain Bourbon Barrel-aged ALTeration- (Austin) Usually barrel-aged beers are strong styles such as barleywines or imperial stouts, but this one is based on an Altbier, an old German style that predates lagers. It acts as a smooth canvas for the bourbon, but still maintains a bit of its own identity as a beer.

Live Oak Lapsong Souchong Black Tea-infused Oaktoberfest- This beer started as Live Oak’s nice Oktoberfest, was aged in a barrel and then infused with a smoked black tea. There are a lot of flavors here, but they did a nice job of balancing them in a way that let all three of them come out in the taste. Live Oak beers are available here, but this rarity is probably easier to find nearer their Austin brewery.

Upcoming beers to look for

Ranger Creek is debuting the third in their series of small-batch beers. On the heels of a solid farmhouse ale for #2, this one is an English barleywine. Look for it on draft and in the 375ml wax-dipped bottles soon.

Real Ale has a number of specialties coming our way. The first of a new Signature Series devoted to showcasing individual hop styles is just coming out. The first one highlights a recently developed hop variety called Hercules, which is a German dual purpose bittering/aroma hop with spicy notes. They’re only shipping a few thousand cases, so it won’t last long.
Another Real Ale gem coming out is a Black Quad. It’s a 10.8% Belgian-style Black Quadrupel that’s sure to keep you warm on our newly found cool evenings.

If you love pumpkin beers, but they’re just not strong enough, try St. Arnold’s Pumpkinator, an imperialized gourd beer that comes in at 10%.